New V8-powered Vision BMW Alpina previews a future Aston Martin rival
Alpina is now part of the BMW Group, and its new era begins with a striking two-door V8-engined concept
Following its acquisition of Alpina in January 2026 BMW has revealed the Vision BMW Alpina at the Villa d’Este concours d’elegance, an imposing V8-engined two-door coupe reminiscent of BMW’s 8-series. Designed under the guidance of Adrian van Hooydonk and Maximilian Missoni, the Vision BMW Alpina sets the template for the direction BMW will take the once independent BMW tuning specialist.
Measuring 5.2 metres in length, only 16cm shorter than a current BMW 7-series, this Alpina is a grandest of grand coupes that Alpina claims blends the iconic design elements of previous models, such as the B7, with today’s modern luxury design.
Featuring a 21st Century remake of the B7’s 1973 ‘sharknose’ front end a ‘single visual axis’ runs the length of the car, with a ‘speed line’ that rises from the lower front corners of the car at a six-degree angle along the side the car and wrapping around the rear.
Alpina’s distinctive ‘deco’ lines are retained and are painted onto the Vision BMW Alpina flanks beneath lacquer. They will be standard on all new Alpina models, though buyers will be able to opt out if they’d prefer. Two-tone colour schemes will be an option too, in which case the Deco set becomes a ‘coach line,’ separating the two colours – a more complex painting operation, requiring extra steps and costs.
Head of design Maximilian Missoni says the design team were inspired by the B7’s ‘combination of comfort and performance, and understated confidence.’ He describes the Vision as being not just a show car, but a reference for the group.
The angular grille has been designed to work visually as either a closed surface or a more traditional open grille, allowing flexibility of powertrain. Like other recent BMWs, the grille design has an illuminated border.
The rear lights have a similar L-shaped design to today’s BMWs, albeit with a narrower, more ‘distilled’ design. Traditional Alpina quad exhaust tips confirm that this concept is based around a combustion engine powertrain.
The Alpina badge has been updated too, now with a monochrome treatment rather than the previous red and blue, retaining the established throttle body and crankshaft emblems but dropping the previous heraldic shield element.
Alpina’s hallmark 20-spoke wheels will remain a design theme too, measuring 22 and 23-inches front and rear in this case.
Tight-lipped BMW will only confirm the Vision BMW Alpina has a V8 engine, but take that as the M5’s 4.4-litre twin-turbo hybrid V8 and circa 800bhp driving all four wheels via the latest xDrive all-wheel drive system.
Price? We wouldn’t expect much change from £200,000. Ouch indeed.
Future BMW Alpina models – what we know so far
Under the slogan ‘speed not sport,’ new BMW Alpina models will be capable of ‘very high performance’ but will be clearly differentiated from BMW’s M division models.
Oliver Viellechner, vice president of the BMW Alpina brand, says that a top speed in excess of 300kph (186mph) will be ‘absolutely realistic for the first production cars.’ A ‘Comfort +’ driving mode has been a feature of Alpina models for some time now, and this will be further developed for all future models and could become the default drive mode on start-up. Speed and Speed+ will also be available modes.
Interior quality will be paramount; cheap plastic surfaces will be minimised and unique leather finishes will be used throughout, among other materials. A wide scope of individualisation options from colours to stitching and so forth is at the heart of the business plan. BMW has charged Alpina with developing a focus on bespoke personalisation. A boutique approach will be taken with dealers with a retail model based more closely on the Rolls-Royce experience than the BMW one.
Viellechner says that BMW is at pains to ‘carefully preserve’ the character and attributes that have seen Alpina models build a global following among enthusiasts and car connoisseurs over the last fifty years. He says BMW has spent a great deal of time considering ‘what is sacred, and has to be dealt with with the utmost care.’
Alpina and BMW ownership – the background
Alpina officially became a part of BMW on 1 January 2026. It’s worth noting that BMW has not acquired the Alpina company as a whole but rather the trademark rights to the brand, however future models are heading in a new direction.
Namely, the higher reaches of the luxury car segment. BMW notes that car brands and models in the ultra-luxury market are showing great resilience to the market conditions squeezing lower-priced and positioned segments. Jaguar Land Rover’s Range Rover models, for example, are frequently configured to £200,000 and upwards, and Mercedes-Benz’s Maybach brand is experiencing healthy sales in China. That makes it an attractive segment to BMW, not least because there are now such a great number of ultra-high-net-worth customers actively buying new high-end cars.
There’s a potential space for Alpina to move into, since there is a substantial gap between the most expensive BMW models and the lowest-priced Roll-Royce models. BMW has also taken the decision for Alpina to be a ‘top-down’ business model, not in the convertible sense but that new Alpinas will be based on the higher-end cars in the BMW portfolio. The sharp-sighted ones amongst you will notice that there is currently no 8-series in the line-up, but the Vision BMW Alpina is a two-door, four-seat GT so expect a new 8-series to be revealed shortly.
What does this mean for the iconic and popular B3, B4 and B5 three-, four- and five- series Alpina models of old? That will be down to Alpina and, crucially, BMW and where it sees the strength and opportunity for such models. Hopefully the new-age Alpina will consider its lineage of the past as potential new models and not simply as design inspiration.
